The directory «Plots»

Ingemann Bernhard Severin
(1789—1862)

Poet and author. During the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, Ingemann was on guard duty on the ramparts as a member of the student corps. Meanwhile, his house and his earliest writings went up in flames.

For Ingemann, the city was a contrast to the old parsonage on the island of Falster where he had grown up. He later brought that environment into his writings when talking of flowers that ”peep at each other” and when ”merry little birds call to each other” in his Morgensange for Børn (Morning Songs for Children).

As a young student in Copenhagen, Ingemann was more preoccupied with the Gothic literature of the time and among other things wrote several exciting fairy tales and stories.

After a time spent studying in Rome, where he made the acquaintance of the sculptor H.E. Freund and Bertel Thorvaldsen, he became a teacher of Danish at Sorø Academy. Here, he wrote a sequence of historical poems and novels that became very widely read. The books were vivid and good humoured and maintained the historical idea that Denmark would thrive if the king and the people kept faith with God.

Ingemann also wrote some of the most beautiful of Danish hymns. Dejlig er Jorden (Lovely is the earth), Glade Jul (Happy Christmas) and Lysets engel gaar med Glans (Radiant is the angel of light) all give an impression of the wealth and depth of life.

Denmark, 1989, Bernhard Ingemann

Denmark, 1989.08.24, Copenhagen. Ingemann